U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speak on Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery efforts at FEMA headquarters in north Austin,, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Texas' first responders now have access to preemption, one of promised benefits of Gov. Greg Abbott opting in to a federal government and AT&T plan to deliver a wireless broadband network to the public safety community. less

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speak on Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery efforts at FEMA headquarters in north Austin,, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Texas' first ... more

Photo: Ricardo B. Brazziell /Associated Press

Photo: Ricardo B. Brazziell /Associated Press

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speak on Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery efforts at FEMA headquarters in north Austin,, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Texas' first responders now have access to preemption, one of promised benefits of Gov. Greg Abbott opting in to a federal government and AT&T plan to deliver a wireless broadband network to the public safety community. less

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speak on Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery efforts at FEMA headquarters in north Austin,, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Texas' first ... more

Police, fire and other emergency workers in Texas can now get “ruthless preemption” on all calls, text messages and emails under a new communications plan to deliver a wireless broadband network to first responders.

Ruthless preemption basically processes their messages and data before all others under the First Responder Network Authority plan, or FirstNet, a national public safety broadband network run by AT&T. Preemption shifts non-emergency traffic to another line when the line becomes crowded, allowing them to better coordinate during emergencies or large public events, according to the release.

“First responders will no longer have to compete with non-emergency users for a connection. They’ll be able to reliably connect to the network to get the information they need when they need it,” FirstNet and AT&T announced Tuesday. “Voice and text messages, images, videos, location information, data from apps and more will be supported in real time, helping first responders quickly work together to save lives.”

It’s a benefit that promises to come in handy in large events like the Super Bowl, or during times when the commercial networks in an area become crowded.

“As a first responder on 9/11, I experienced the communications challenges that can happen in large emergencies as networks become congested and overwhelmed,” Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Chief Richard Bowers said in the press release. “Now, with the launch of preemption on FirstNet, for the first time, public safety is ensured a ‘fast lane’ to connect. FirstNet will provide reliability, confidence and ability for first responders to be able to communicate during emergency operations.”

The service is only available to states and territories that have opted into the FirstNet service and emergency services that sign up for it. Texas decided to join the FirstNet network in in September after Hurricane Harvey tore apart cities along the Gulf Coast and left much of Houston under 52 inches of rain.

“Hurricane Harvey is still fresh on our minds as the area continues to recover,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a statement at the time. “The support we received from AT&T and FirstNet during our response was incredible, and with this partnership, it will only get better.”

Preemption has been a highly-anticipated feature of “opting in,” according to Chris Sambar, senior vice president, AT&T — FirstNet.

“Preemption continually topped the list of mission-critical tools first responders wanted to see first on the network,” Sambar said in the release. “This is game-changing for first responders, and as far as we know, this is the first-ever launch of preemption at this scale in the world.”

FirstNet subscribers who are “primary users,” including fire, law enforcement and emergency medical services, have the feature available to them now at no additional charge, according to the release.

New Hampshire’s Gov. Chris Sununu said last week the state would opt out, becoming the first to do so.